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In his June 13th blog, published in Kulture Kritic, Dr. Sinclair Grey III
asked “Do a Handful of Mainstream
Buffοοns Cost All Blacks Respect In America?"As you might imagine, there are as many answers to
this question as there are blacks with opinions. Grey says, “You can go to any barbershop or hair salon
and get answers ranging from one extreme to the next.” I decided to offer my opinion by focusing on those who
respect ___ or might not respect ___ black Americans.

Normally, you wouldn’t think
that blacks would seek the respect of the KKK, the Aryan Brotherhood or similar
organizations. White racists have made it clear: they not only disrespect black
people, they hate them. However, last year, the NAACP chapter in Casper Wyoming
met with the KKK. But if the NAACP Negroes met with the klan to get respect,
according to Jeremy Fugleberg, a managing editor
at the Casper Star-Tribune, they didn’t get any. The
meeting only encouraged the klansmen to hold the NAACP Negroes in even greater
contempt. It’s surprising how many Negroes cater to the KKK. When Charlotta
Bass, editor of Los Angeles’ California
Eagle, fought the klan over the racist depiction of blacks in the movie, Birth of A Nation, the klan was able to
put her out of business by having Negro business owners pull their
advertisements and subscriptions. At the time, the California Eagle was the
oldest black newspaper west of the Mississippi. Even today, the klan controls certain
Negroes. Congressman Barbara Lee and Mayor Elihu Harris invited the daughter of
George Wallace, the arch- segregationist and klansman, to Oakland, California
to tell the black community about her father’s contribution to civil rights.
Catering to the family of George Wallace may have furthered their Barbara Lee’s
political career but it made black people of Oakland look like ‘coons’ or
‘clowns’ or both. But this is what happens when Negroes seek the respect of white
racists.

Black politicians make it
difficult for black Americans to be respected even by the white politicians fighting
for liberal causes. Liberal democrats waging showdown battles against Big
Business, Big Banks and Wall Street cannot depend on support from black
politicians. Recent revelations by the Huffington Post records the despicable
behavior of some members of the Congressional Black Caucus at a time when Big
Money is destroying the lives of so many. The Huffington Post writes: The GOP isn't shy about
its antipathy to government regulations, and a pro-business coalition known as
the New Democrats has come to its aid. But there is also a third, lesser-known
faction: the Congressional Black Caucus. [Gwen]Moore, along with colleagues
such as New York's Gregory Meeks, Georgia's David Scott, Missouri's Lacy Clay
and Alabama's Terri Sewell, has pushed for a host of seemingly arcane measures
that would undermine Dodd-Frank's rules on financial derivatives, the complex
contracts at the heart of the 2008 meltdown. [Moore] is the co-sponsor of
multiple measures that would once again allow Wall Street to shift its riskiest
transactions out of the view of regulators.

According to Yvette Carnell in her
article, How theCBC Leverages Blackness to Work
as a Tool for Wall Street, CBC members worked against a rule that was supported by
liberal democrats that “bans banks that receive taxpayer perks from making
speculative trades for their own accounts.” Meeks, Scott, Sewell, and Clay were
all onboard with killing the rule. Moore’s chief of staff is a vocal supporter
of the financial services lobby. One of Moore’s former staffers works for the
financial industry. It is not surprising to insiders that Gwen Moore is one of
the banking industry’s key supporters. Since the CBC
tends to vote as a bloc, and, as CBC head Marcia Fudge admits, most of them
don’t know much about financial services law, the CBC usually defers to Gwen Moore and her staff
members on financial these critical bills.
At a time when polarization between the rich and the middle class is at its height,
black politicians in the Congressional Black Caucus have been siding with the
rich. These politicians are no more interested in the respect of the liberal
members of the democratic party than they are interested in the respect of the
constituents they purport to represent.

Even though the CBC Negroes work
with right wing republicans, they don’t have their respect. The rash of voter
suppression laws that the GOP has sponsored all over the country is a good
indication of how little republicans respect black politicians and the black American
communities who elect them. In Michigan, the GOP has disenfranchised 80% of the
black population. Without fear of retaliation from black politicians, either at
the state or national levels, the GOP governor and legislature have deprived blacks
living in communities like Detroit and Flint of their right to govern http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/23447-focus-michigans-state-government-doesnt-trust-black-people-to-govern-themselves

Blacks ridicule whites for maintaining
their right wing principles and whites sneer at black’s political impotence. No
respect is sought or given here.

Of course when one thinks of black politicians,
one must remember that black politicians are spawned by the black church. Some
believe that George Bush made one of the most deft political moves any
president has ever made with his “faith-based initiative. By giving away money
to religious organizations, Bush not only shored up his white “evangelical”
right wing base, he silenced all criticism from black preachers. Not only did
Bush silence greedy black preachers, he got them to support the impotent black politicians
that make up the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Even nationally-recognized preachers
seem uninterested in maintaining any respect. Preachers and politicians in the Martin
Luther King family are involved in a nasty legal dispute over the sale King’
Nobel Prize and his bible. Other black religious families exhibit even less
than respectful behavior. The Reverend Jesse Jackson’s son, an elected Congressman,
is currently in prison. His famous father, who would utter ‘keep hope alive’ as
he entered the Playboy mansion, has one or more children out of wedlock,
contributing to black America’s image of producing unwed mothers and fatherless
families. The Reverend Al Sharpton provides comic relief to this sad story of
the black preacher turned politician. When it was revealed that Al Sharpton was
a FBI “snitch, ” he claimed that he had no choice. When the FBI caught him dealing
drugs, Sharpton had to become a snitch or go to jail. As a preacher of God’s
word, Sharpton made the obvious choice. As an FBI ‘snitch’ and drug dealer,
Sharpton may be the ideal MSNBC spokesman for the Obama administration, but he
deserves no one’s respect.

Certainly, the black community,
itself, has never wavered in its support for its preachers. Yet outside the
black community, the preacher’s moral authority is as much a joke as his public
speaking ability. Recently a news reporter asked a Palestinian leader why the
Palestinians did not use “non-violence” like black Americans. “Black Americans
are no better off than we are,” the Palestinian said. “They still live in
concentration camps, just like us. The only difference is that their leaders
serve the Jews, our leaders serve Palestinians.”

Academics find it difficult to
respect black scholarship. It is difficult to respect scholarship that is
unabashedly rhetorical as is often the case with Afro-centric research. Time
and time again, black scholars demonstrate that they either don’t know or
ignore history. For example, when Nelson Mandela died black scholars and black media
analysts claimed in unison that black America’s non-violent philosophy and
divestment activities were responsible for Nelson Mandela’s release from prison
and the ending of apartheid. The truth was that when the Cubans defeated South
African Security Forces in Angola, South Africa’s white minority had a hard choice
to make: either share political power or
risk annihilation. The white settlers chose to continue their economic
domination of South Africa by sharing political power with the ANC and making
Nelson Mandela president. [Note the parallels between Nelson Mandela’s and
Barack Obama’s presidencies. Both were brought into office due to ill-conceived
wars of aggression.] In a world dominated by American imperialism, few respect
the efficacy of Martin Luther King’s “non-violent” political action nor is there
any respect for scholars who credit “non-violence” for anything other than the
mass incarceration of black men, ‘marches on Washington’ notwithstanding.

On the other hand, the black
entertainers have always been respected by whites and others. Negroes love to
entertain white folks. From the earliest days, whites Americans have dearly
loved their black minstrels, vaudevillians and gospel singers. Black
entertainers like Bill “Bojangels” Robinson and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson were
household names among white audiences, especially when paired with Shirley
Temple and Jack Benny. And white people never got enough of ‘Farina’ and
‘Buckwheat’ in the ‘Our Gang’ movie series. Even when sports were segregated, whites
turned out in droves to watch the Harlem Globetrotters perform their basketball
antics. White folks just loved to watch them coonin’ around. Jackie Robinson
became a national hero as much for the abuse, degradation and humiliation that
he suffered from white fans as for his baseball skills. It’s not just the money,
either. Shaquille O’Neal has more money than he and his ten children by
different women can ever spend. But, during the NBA season, ‘Shaq’, Charles
Barkely and Kenny Smith put on a ‘coon’ show that would embarrass even Amos and
Andy. Black entertainers are welcomed all over the world. Recall the reception that
Dennis Rodman received in North Korea. But not just athletes. Black musicians
have always found respectful audiences in Europe. Josephine Baker, Miles Davis
and Jimi Hendrix all became international celebrities in Europe. Black actors,
male and female, all receive their fair share of respect, in America and
abroad. The Help won critical acclaim
with Octavia Spencer winning an Oscar and Viola Davis being nominated. Mo’Nique
won an Oscar for Precious and Lee
Daniels was nominated. Though it was ignored by the motion picture academy, Lee
Daniels, ‘The Butler’ was critically
acclaimed and won numerous awards. No doubt, black entertainers certainly have
sought and received the respect of white audiences all over the world.

So, it may be that black people do
not receive the respect they want, but they certainly get the respect they deserve.